The bank expects Egypt to increase exports and adopt an
industrial policy of import substitution as it targets economic
revival, Alex Thursby told Reuters at an investment conference
in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, March 15 (Reuters) – President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi was so confident after Egypt signed billions of
dollars of deals at an investment summit that he publicly joked
on Sunday about haggling with the world’s top chief executives.
Yet the real challenge has only just begun.

“To Egyptian and international partners, if you really want
to contribute to developing this country, you must work night
and day and, as for the cost, please give us a break,” he said
in his closing speech at the Sharm El-Sheikh resort, to applause
and laughter.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Top Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris said he was ready to invest $500 million in Egypt and was diversifying his telecoms business into infrastructure, energy and transportation, sectors which need major funds in the country.

Sawiris, a billionaire from a powerful Coptic Christian family, said the investment conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh had been a success but that the government would need to make efforts to follow up with investors.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Reuters) – Gulf Arab allies pledged a further $12 billion (8 billion pounds) of investments and central bank deposits for Egypt at an international summit on Friday, a big boost to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he tries to reform the economy after years of political upheaval.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each offered $4 billion to Egypt, which is grappling with Islamist insurgents as it tries to improve the investment climate four years after a popular uprising that touched off protracted turmoil.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, March 13 (Reuters) – Qalaa Holdings,
one of Egypt’s largest investment companies, said on Friday its
investment strategy would focus on opportunities presented by
reforms in the energy sector.

Speaking at an investment conference in the Red Sea resort
of Sharm El-Sheikh, Qalaa chairman Ahmed Heikal said he was
highly encouraged by the government’s decision last year to cut
fuel subsidies that had drained state coffers.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, March 13 (Reuters) – Egypt expects to sign
agreements worth up to $20 billion at a weekend investment
summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, its investment
minister said on Friday.

Egypt wants the conference to project an image of stability
and deepen investor confidence after four years of political and
economic turmoil triggered by a 2011 uprising that toppled
veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak.

CAIRO (Reuters) – After four years of political turmoil, Egypt is staking its economic revival on an investment summit in Sharm el-Sheikh it hopes will burnish its image and attract billions of dollars.

The gathering, to be attended by global chief executives and officials including the International Monetary Fund’s Christine Lagarde and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is not just about money.

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Egypt’s military could help build an industrial hub around a new Suez Canal, the project’s manager said, the first suggestion that the armed forces may play an important role in the huge investment venture planned alongside the new waterway.

The army began in August digging the new $8 billion canal that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief, wants completed within a year.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has signed off on an anti-terrorism law that gives authorities more sweeping powers to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order.

The move, announced in the official Gazette, is likely to increase concern among human rights groups that the government has rolled back on freedoms gained after the 2011 uprising that ended a three-decade autocracy under Hosni Mubarak.